When art is inherited

THE wheels of time have been turning at Eastern Eye’s annual Arts, Culture & Theatre Awards (ACTAs).

Meera Syal arrived a little late, having flown in from Dublin, but her daughter, Milli Bhatia – nominated for best theatre director – was already in the audience. Incidentally, Meera won best theatre actress for A Tupperware of Ashes.

Sarod player Soumik Datta, who won an ACTA in the traditional music category, had come with his parents – Soumilya and cinema expert Sangeeta Datta. He recalled how his father used to play music tapes for him in the car.

Saachi Sen with mother Swati

Saachi Sen, named emerging artist by Darren Henley, chief executive of Arts Council England – and who sang beautifully afterwards – attended with her very supportive mother, Swati. “I am half Bengali and half Gujarati,” confided Saachi.

William Dalrymple must be very proud that his 28-year-old son, Sam Dalrymple, was nominated for best history book for Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia.

Waris Hussein, who is 86, paid an emotional tribute to his late mother, Attia Hosain, and referred to her novel, Sunlight on a Broken Column. Waris’s advice to the new generation was: “Don’t go into advertising.”

Waris Hussein and Nitin Ganatra

His father, he said, had wanted him to pursue an executive career in advertising after Clifton College and Cambridge: “My father wanted that, and I bless him for it. But it was my mother who said, ‘Let the boy do what he wants.’”

I met Attia many years ago and have a copy of her novel.

Somewhere, I also have a photograph I took of her, flanked by Waris and his sister, the film producer Shama Habibullah (she was a producer on Attenborough’s Gandhi).

Perhaps the pendulum has now swung too far the other way. I can imagine a young boy telling his parents, “Mum, Dad, please sit down. I know this will upset you. But I don’t want to be an actor like Kulvinder Ghir. My heart is set on doing particle physics at Imperial.”